(VOVworld) – The Vietnamese National Border Committee has received documents that confirm Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes presented by culture researcher Ho Tan Phan.

Cultural researcher Ho Tan Phan reading a section from the annals (Photo: danviet.vn)

This is the copy of imperial records of Nguyen dynasty collected by Japan’s Keio university. The imperial records called “Royal Annals of Dai Nam” were compiled from King Minh Mang II in 1821 to the 14^th year of Bao Dai reign. Part of the records from King Gia Long to King Dong Khanh was carved on wood to be printed in the poonah paper. The rest of the documents from periods of King Thanh Thai, Duy Tan and Dai Nam were handwritings and made into 6 copies for preservation. The records were lost during the war time. Since 1961, Japanese Keio university collected and made copies of the “Royal Annals of Dai Nam” which includes 550 volumes with nearly 33,000 pages. The records were then printed in Japan with 20 volumes for research purposes. The documents are significant legal evidence that confirms Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes. Researcher Ho Tan Phan said: “These historical records include 17 passages confirming that Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelago belong to Vietnam. They mention marine exploitation for economic benefits, measuring, planting of markers in the archipelago”.